77% of Patients Search Online for a Health Care Provider–Will They Find You?

With 77% of patients looking for their next medical provider on the internet, you need to be sure you’re where they can find you. Here’s how optimize your site.

In the last five years, more and more consumers have turned to the internet when seeking healthcare information. Potential patients use search engines to help identify conditions, evaluate treatment options, and choose their health care provider.

When your potential patients go online to find the health care they need, will they be able to find you?

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engines employ powerful algorithms to choose which information consumers find when they search online. The purpose of these algorithms isn’t to pick winners and losers in the digital advertising race, but to select quality information that enhances the search user’s journey.

Consumers are finding their next doctor using online search. Following an initial search about symptoms and conditions, a Pew Research Institute survey indicates that the next step for many consumers is to seek medical attention. Those individuals who decide to seek medical treatment will search online to find a doctor. Mobile search users, in particular, may book their appointment via the internet after finding an acceptable provider. Potential patients use the internet to search for a doctor who is nearby, accepted by their health care plan, and recommended by others.

Health care providers are increasing online advertising. Healthcare marketers have responded to this uptick in the use of search engines by increasing their digital spending. Statista reports that the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry spent $1.43 billion in digital advertising in 2014. Digital spending for the combined industries is expected to top $1.8 billion in 2016 and $2.32 billion by 2018. As healthcare marketing becomes increasingly competitive, quality medical SEO practices are a necessity for every doctor.

Potential patients pay attention to providers’ online reputations. Not only will your potential patients look for you online, but they will also look for reviews about you online. Your presence and rating on services such as Yelp and Healthgrades now play a major role in your ability to gain new patients. Great reviews can help boost your search engine visibility and conversion rate. On the other hand, the openness of the internet means that a negative review can have far-reaching impact. Strategically managing your online reputation requires strategic use of SEO principals.

For all of these reasons, SEO must be a core element of your digital marketing strategy.

The Dangers of SEO Done Wrong

When done correctly, SEO demonstrates to Google and other search engines that your site is worthy of presentation to consumers. When done wrong, SEO attempts can do the opposite—telling the search engines that you have nothing to offer their users and are trying to cheat the system.

Ideally, top-ranked webpages earn their position organically through genuine, proven performance. However, some companies invest their time and effort in attempting to find shortcuts to success in search engine optimization.

That’s why it is important for doctors and other medical services providers to ensure that they only work with real SEO experts who understand the industry and its rules.

How Doctor Identity Services Can Help

The process of optimizing your medical website for search engines requires skill and attention to detail. At Doctor Identity Services, we don’t use shortcuts; we deliver results. Our experts are well-versed in both search engine and social media optimization practices for doctors. We cover every detail of your web presence from online reputation management to converting potential patients into new patients.

Because our team is regularly reviewing and updating your content and performance, you can rest assured that you’ll get the right kind of attention from the search engines. When your search engine ranking rise, it will be because we’ve employed best practices to demonstrate your website’s worth to search engines and provide your potential customers the information they need to choose you as their medical service provider.